IMHOTEP

Much of Ptah’s training was brutal and relentless. Each period (which could last for days or weeks) was spent with only one of the ancients or Shaheem, as they took turns teaching him the ways of total combat. Some days Ptah was driven to total exhaustion until he passed out or was beaten to the ground.

His training was both physical and mental, which stretched the limits of his endurance. Ptah had never been driven this hard before, but he did not complain. He had been chosen to do this, and he had given his word and commitment to Shaheem and the ancients that he would either be successful or die. And so he spent day in and day out dodging arrows, fighting against treacherous assaults, building his body into a perfect fighting machine, and learning how to be a warrior priest. He had to learn to withstand the cold and dampness of the cave palace, mentally communicate
and walk among dangerous animals, and scale the heights of spiritual awakening.

Ptah’s training with Bast didn’t start until he had been at the Mountain of the Moon for a least one year. He had to learn to face his fears, and perhaps the most challenging aspect of this physical training, was his time spent with Bast, the Lion Master of the ages. Ptah had to learn the secret of how animals stalk, trap and kill their prey: he learned how to be a predator. He learned how to
survive in the wild, to tap into his root animal nature and explore his instincts for killing in ways he had never imagined. He learned the strengths and weaknesses of the lion, of how to counter an attack and survive. Bast communicated mentally with Ptah and worked hard to bring out his strong animal instincts.

On the first day that Ptah was to fight Bast, he stepped forward to face him, but when the Lion Master charged with a roar of the ages, he froze. It was a terrifying experience, one that he would never forget. Bast came within inches of swiping his head off with his powerful paws. The Lion Master told him to wake up or the next time he would feel the full weight of his wrath. It truly took some time to get use to training with such a formidable foe. Often Ptah felt he knew Bast, that he reminded him in some strange way of Lady Dogon’s black cat. He even tried to communicate this to Bast, but there was no answer.

The Black Titans were equally ferocious. During the age of the titans, these two were supreme commanders in opposing armies. They fought terrible battles and lived in a world dominated by war. Ptah had to withstand their extreme aggression, their heavy assaults with various types of weapons, and their skill and strength in unarmed combat. He was given special herbs and secret potions, and
instructed to follow a strict eating regimen. In time he became much stronger and could fight a much bigger man in hand to hand combat.

The Black Titan named Mansa taught him the deadly art of ground combat: vicious techniques in breaking joints, grappling and deadly headbutts. Mansa is a strong and determined warrior who believes in justice and fair play. He is the more patient and calmer of the two titans. He even instructed Ptah on how to fight the other titan, Lombara. He drilled Ptah endlessly on toughening the body, on building a strong fortified nature to battle against any opponent. It was almost insane
learning to use every major aspect of the body as a weapon. But Ptah persevered and learned the ways of a titan warrior.

Sword fighting with Ze, the Amazon queen, was an incredible experience. She was passionately serious, but more playful in her approach, more instructive. Ze was patient and thoughtful and enjoyed teaching Ptah. She could fight for hours using a vast array of techniques
and tactics. She taught Ptah how to successfully fight with two swords, and her methods of using psychology and deceptions against opponents. She is a master strategists, and taught Ptah the art of deception.

To Ze, war was a game, a game she played to win. It was while studying the art of war with Ze that Ptah finally came to the realization that it didn’t matter that they trained with weapons from ancient times; the same human qualities always applied; the same strenghts and weaknesses were always present. She liked Ptah and took special care of him during his stay at the Mountain of the Moon.

Training with the Black Titan, Lombara, was an extremely stressful experience. Lombara is a warrior of tremendous zeal and viciousness. During training, he pursued the young Dogon with vigor, with eagerness, with passion. At the end of each training session with Lombara, Ptah felt drained, confused, weary and completely exhausted. He thought to himself, this is what it must be like to fight a powerful opponent who is relentless, who is in constant pursuit for hours, who will stop at nothing until he destroys you, devours you, rips you into little pieces so that nothing is left, vanished from existence.

That is how Lombara fought; he was driven to be the worst nightmare in any warrior’s dreams. Ptah thought, even Bast would pull back after a vicious attack. But he, Lombara, would beat you to the ground, stand you up, and beat you to the ground again and again. It was his way, his eternal destiny. And in life as in death, this continued; for it was in his heart to love war, to cherish war, to exist for war.

Ptah’s anger and fits of frustration didn’t help his situation; it made it worse. It was during these episodes that he made his worse mistakes. He grew to hate and resent Lombara. Shaheem, who was observing Ptah’s time with the titan, told Ptah that that was not the way of the master.

Lombara instructed Ptah to sleep on the hard rock floor of a damp cave each night during the time he trained with the dreaded titan. And it often happened that after a brutal day of training with Lombara, Ptah’s sleep was disturbing. His dreams were filled with battle and war, and the image of Lombara in constant pursuit. Each day Ptah awoke to meet the Black Titan, he vowed to be stronger, to not let him break his will to prevail, to not crumble under the incredible pressure. The time spent with Lombara was intense and was designed to prepare him for something that he was not aware of at that time. His concern was survival, not how this was preparing him for some special purpose or mission in life.

As a direct descendant of a Nummo, Ptah is specially endowed with the seeds of super human capabilities. He had only been scratching the surface with his mental capabilities up until this point in his life. Although he had been known as The Wizard in the ring, he now understood how that was only a small part of his nature.

Shaheem was a true Wizard of great power, and Ptah endeavored to understand that power. Shaheem knew that he could only impart a small portion of his true knowledge to Ptah, but he also
understood that the period of revelation could conceivably provide his grandson with additional powers. And so he began to slowly teach Ptah the ways of the ancient Nummo warrior priests.

Shaheem’s real work with Ptah didn’t start until after the novice had been through the initial stages with the ancients. The transformation in Ptah was a slow scientific process: his body would become stronger and more dynamic through chemistry, electrical, magnetic and gravitational forces. In ordinary human life this would be considered magic, but to the Nummo, everything was ultimately the pure science of the universe. Ptah had to learn some very difficult mental and spiritual secrets and codes that would unlock the doorways in his mind for super human endeavors. He had to learn to discipline himself to control his powers once they were unleashed. For this deep understanding, he had to be taught by the master wizard born of the earth: Imhotep.

In the beginning of the human species, there was Imhotep in Khui Land, the Land of the Sha (spirits and Gods). He conquered himself and achieved nirvana and was deified by his people. He is seer, scientist, shaman mathematician, master of medicine, and master teacher of the human mind, a multi-genuis; he has existed for over 300,000 years.

Ptah’s training with Imhotep is the most critical on the path to true mastership. What he learns here will shape his destiny forever. Imhotep has mastered the art of fighting without fighting and the ability to reverse the flow of a force back to its original source. He is a man of incredible wisdom. He is soft spoken, has a deep rich black skin tone, piercing red eyes and a completely bald head. He
always remains without any hair on his face. He has the ability to walk on water and float in the air. He is dedicated to the art of mastership and the positive growth of the universe.

After an intense period of training with Lombara, the Black titan, Ptah was instructed to spend the next few months with Imhotep in the lower chamber. He was pleasantly relieved, as always, to leave the presence of Lombara. However, this time he felt that he had struggled much better against the titan, that he, Ptah, was beginning to match the titan’s will for endurance and ferocity. Ptah
observed another thing about himself, that he no longer hated Lombara; the message from Shaheem had finally gotten through.